


Say I Do

by gluupor



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-04-21
Packaged: 2019-04-25 15:49:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14381895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gluupor/pseuds/gluupor
Summary: Neil’s not sure how this happened.Well, okay, that’s blatantly false. This happened because he’s a competitive asshole and so is Andrew, although he hides it behind his general apathy. They wouldn’t both be professional athletes if they didn’t have healthy competitive streaks. But what that means is that sometimes neither of them will back down when issued a challenge. Like right now.When they’re locked in a game of engagement chicken.





	Say I Do

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a prompt from Tumblr from anonymous: i know with your new (+amazing) avengers au, you might be busy, but lil fic request? if you've watched the office [spoilers(?)], you know how jim pretends to propose to pam? well what if it was neil+andrew
> 
> As for those of you who are waiting for my [Avengers AU](https://archiveofourown.org/series/996753), don't worry. I should be ready to post the next part very soon.
> 
> I can't believe this is the first thing I've written that takes place in the canon universe.

Neil’s not sure how this happened.

Well, okay, that’s blatantly false. This happened because he’s a competitive asshole and so is Andrew, although he hides it behind his general apathy. They wouldn’t both be professional athletes if they didn’t have healthy competitive streaks. But what that means is that sometimes neither of them will back down when issued a challenge. Like right now.

When they’re locked in a game of engagement chicken.

“Engagement chicken?” asks Matt over the phone.

“Yeah,” says Neil. “Like gay chicken but whoever proposes first loses.”

“Yeah, that’s not a thing, Neil,” says Matt. “Wait, I’m googling it and engagement chicken _is_ a thing! According to Wikipedia it’s ‘a lemon and herb flavoured roast chicken dish, purported to cause boyfriends to propose marriage.’ Huh.” He pauses in thought. “I guess you could make that for Andrew in order to win your strange contest.”

“Please, Matt, it’s Andrew,” says Neil. “He’s not going to be defeated by a delicious chicken dinner.” He thinks about it. “Maybe ice cream,” he decides. “Is there a special ice cream that causes spontaneous proposals?”

“How about we back up and you tell me exactly what is going on?” suggests Matt. “Wait a sec, I’ll put you on speaker.”

“Hey, Neil, what’s up?” says Dan’s cheerful voice.

“Neil’s being patently ridiculous and needs our help,” says Matt.

“So business as usual then?” jokes Dan.

“It’s maybe a tiny bit silly,” admits Neil.

“He’s trying to trick Andrew into proposing to him,” says Matt.

“I’m not trying to trick him,” grumbles Neil. “We already know that we’re going to get married. I just need him to propose first.”

“Hold on,” says Dan. “Back up. If you’ve already agreed to get married, then why do you need a proposal?”

“This is going to sound stupid,” complains Neil.

“Just a guess here, but that's probably because it’s stupid,” replies Dan dryly. “Start at the beginning.”

The beginning is three weeks ago. Neil’s recently been traded, he’s finally in the same state, city, and team as Andrew after a couple post-college years of having a long-distance relationship and barely having time to see each other. It’s good, having Andrew so close again. To remember how it was in his later years of college once his turbulent freshman year was over and they were able to solidify their relationship into something unbreakable.

Neil was excited about being back together and his thoughts had turned to the future, something he’d never been able to do before Andrew. That had been why he’d absent-mindedly mentioned that renting was fine for now, but that he’d like to own their own place once they were married.

Andrew’s eyebrow had quirked just enough that Neil knew he’d taken him by surprise. “You haven’t even proposed,” he said.

“Have I not?” asked Neil flippantly. “Well I was waiting for you to do it.”

“What, right now?”

“Here in the locker room?” scoffed Neil. “No, that would be lame.”

“We all know that exy is the one thing in the world you’re most attracted to,” said Andrew. “There’s no way that when you give in and propose it won’t be exy-themed.”

“Excuse you. _If_ I were to propose it would be magnificent.”

“Also, I’m calling a veto on anything exy-related showing up at the wedding.”

“So you won’t even let me invite Kevin?”

Andrew emitted a little huff of air, which was as close as he ever got to laughing out loud. “Fine. One exy thing.”

“Good,” said Neil haughtily. “In the meantime, you’d better prepare an awesome proposal.”

“What if I wait for you to do it?”

“You won’t,” said Neil teasingly. “You can't resist me.” He turned to his locker to grab his coat and when he turned back, Andrew was down in front of him on one knee. Neil gaped and he’s pretty sure his heart stopped beating.

“Neil, will you…” Andrew said.

“Andrew, what-”

“...wait while I tie my shoe?” finished Andrew.

Neil’s heart regained a normal rhythm. “Asshole,” he said affectionately, already plotting revenge. “It doesn't matter. I know you're going to give in first.”

“You know no such thing,” replied Andrew. 

Neil looked around the empty room. “You want to blow me while you’re down there, or…?”

Andrew snorted and stood. “Told you the locker room got you going.”

Neil had retaliated with a fake proposal of his own and everything had escalated from there. He’s pretty sure that it will just be fake out after fake out until one of them finally caves.

“I mean, there’s a pretty simple solution here, Neil,” says Dan sounding exasperated. “Propose. Like you _wanted to do anyway_.”

“And let him win?” says Neil. “He’s the one who started the fake proposals!”

“How is asking the person you love to marry you _not_ winning?” asks Matt. “That’s pretty much the definition of winning.”

“How were you going to propose originally?” asks Dan. “Before you got weirdly competitive about who was doing the proposing?”

“I don't know, I was just going to wing it,” admits Neil. “I figured it didn't matter as long as we ended up married.”

There's a sniffle from the other end of the line.

“Aww, babe, are you crying?” laughs Dan.

“I'm just so happy for them,” says Matt, sounding snotty. “Remember how they were when we met them? And now they're happy and they're going to get married. To each other!”

“Please stop it,” pleads Neil.

“You'd better get used to it,” warns Dan. “Imagine how Nicky's going to react when you tell him.”

“Maybe we don't need to get married,” says Neil thoughtfully. “We're doing fine, living together with our cats.” He hears a key in the lock. “Anyway, Andrew's home, gotta go, bye, love you,” he says quickly and hangs up the phone.

Andrew enters, carrying the bag of take out he'd gone to pick up. “I got stuck at the traffic lights on Elm, twice,” he grumbles.

Neil groans. “How is that light red 98% of the time? It's red _way_ more often than it should be by random chance.”

“If you'd let me put a rocket launcher on my car like I wanted…”

Neil gets out plates and cutlery and started setting the table. “Hey, I was pro-rocket launcher,” he argues. “Then I could get rid of everyone who tries to cut me off in traffic.”

Andrew swipes one of the cats out of his way with his foot and puts the food on the table. He opens the bag and starts dishing out the contents.

They have a pleasant dinner together and then retreat to the living room. Andrew picks up his latest book and Neil flicks on the television, tuning in to an exy game immediately. The cats join them, curling up on and between them.

Neil absently watches the game and lets his mind wander. He thinks about what Dan and Matt said. He knows he wants this, this quiet domesticity with Andrew, for as long as he's allowed to keep it. He's watching Andrew more than the game; Andrew doesn't even seem to notice. He'd gotten used to Neil's staring years ago.

Suddenly Neil can't quite remember exactly why he can't be the one to propose. “Marry me,” he says, just as Jeremy Knox scores an almost impossible goal.

Andrew looks up. “Are you talking to me or to Knox?”

“Andrew,” says Neil seriously. “This - you are what I want. Forever. So I'm asking if you'll marry me. Yes or no?”

“Yes,” says Andrew as he leans in to kiss him. When he pulls back, he has a lopsided smile. “I win,” he whispers.

A sudden thought occurs to Neil. “Wait,” he says slowly. “You brought me chicken for dinner. Did you trick me with _engagement chicken_?”

**Author's Note:**

> I can be found on tumblr [@gluupor](http://gluupor.tumblr.com).
> 
> Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought!


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